Fun and Craft Carry the Day on “42nd Street”

42nd Street is an odd duck, in that it turns a 1933 film about putting together a stage musical — but that itself (i.e., the film) is not a musical until the third act, where we get a few numbers from that musical-within-a-film — into a full-blow musical comedy, bringing the film’s metafictional forays front and center.

As with An American in Paris, which they staged to tremendous effect last year, Musical Theatre West’s 42nd Street does more than enough to demonstrate how even classic film musicals can be improved for the stage.

You’ve heard this one before: naïve smalltown gal comes to the big city with dreams of stardom, gets a lucky break in nuthin’ flat, and knocks their socks off. Here it’s Peggy Sawyer (Emma Nossal), a preternaturally gifted dancer who barely makes the chorus in big-time director Julian Marsh’s (Robert Mammana) new Broadway extravaganza but ably steps into the spotlight when longtime superstar Dorothy Brock (April Nixon) goes down with an injury.

But even more than in most musicals, this plot is just a means to an end. What makes 42nd Street work is its sense of play. In that, Nossal is clearly the pivot point of this production. Yes, she’s a helluva dancer (more on that anon), but her easy charm and spot-on comedic timing makes us love a character who isn’t much on the page. None of the characters are, in fact, but director Cynthia Ferrer has created (from whole cloth, I suspect) just enough really fine comedic beats — which her cast sells perfectly almost every time — that we get more pleasure than the script earns.

In that it draws on material from multiple sources — in this case, other films from the 1930s with music by Harry Warren — 42nd Street is a jukebox musical, but you’ll never find another one of those with fewer “classic” songs. “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me”? “There’s a Sunny Side to Ev’ry Situation”? “About a Quarter to Nine”? There’s a reason none of these has gained the status of a “Luck Be a Lady” or “Night and Day”. Even “We’re in the Money” and “Lullaby of Broadway” — the only two that the average non-expert in 1930s musical comedy will be likely to recognize even a bit — aren’t much.

Moreover, this is not a cast whose greatest talent is singing. That’s okay, because 42nd Street is a lot more about acting-singing than virtuosic displays of voice. So as with the dialog, the musical numbers have to win with a light spirit. 

For the most part, they do. “Shadow Waltz”, a song we don’t care about, gets some of the show’s earliest laughs with a run of meta-staging gags. “We’re in the Money” succeeds as spectacle. And “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” > “42nd Street” give us all kinds of goodies to go out on a high note.

Maybe more than anything, 42nd Street is a show for fans of tap dancing. Opening with two dozen pairs of legs clickety-clacking in unison, we never go ten minutes without somebody stepping and shuffling in that most recognizable of dance idioms. The cast isn’t always perfect with Cheryl Baxter’s able choreography (even the neophyte can tell when a gaggle of dancers is truly in lockstep and when they’re not), but they’re usually close enough.

To be sure, Emma Nossal is the right person to play the best dancer in the 42nd Street universe. She makes some fairly tricky stuff seem like child’s play, and a sequence that culminates in some a cappella (except, you know, for feet) match-stepping and call-and-response between her and Quintan Craig is exquisite.

Bruce Brockman’s set design effectively frames the overall action; and when needed he cuts the stage into smaller sections by wheeling on mini-sets (dressing rooms, etc.). Paul Black’s lighting makes the action really pop, especially during “Getting Out of Town”, where he works magic off a flow of costume color culminating in a symphony of taupe and gray. 

Even relative to the realm of musical comedy, 42nd Street may not be high art. But you come to something like this simply for fun, right? On that score, you won’t be disappointed, partly because of how diligently Musical Theatre West has paid attention to craft, partly because there’s a delightful star at its center.

42nd Street at Musical Theatre West
Times: Fri 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun 1pm + Feb 18 6pm
The show runs through February 25.
Cost: $20–$135; student rush tix: $15
Details: (562) 856-1999, musical.org
Venue: Carpenter Performing Arts Center (6200 W. Atherton, Long Beach)